Avalon

When sorry ain't enough

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

I came across this news review about the recent Tiger Woods apology speech being unable to put a stop to the raining criticisms and incessant condemnation from members of the public and media, not to mention fellow golfers. (probably watching on in glee) Despite the strategised content and well rehearsed speech whereby the protagonist, after a prolonged period of media coverage, openly admitted to a mistake well outside his professional realm, it is easily predictable that musings and satire about this event will inevitably find its way to certain corners of Cyberspace or television, and I can just imagine a skit spoofing this sex scandal on MadTv one of these days. It is apparent: noone is letting this go easily. An incident as such has long moved beyond the initial defending of moralistic boundaries to something that resembles the act of "witch hunting", to quote the term used by the author of that article. (can't remember who)

There probably is sadistic pleasure derived from watching someone better than us (be it popularity, social status, wealth, physical attractiveness...) fall from grace, to find a target to direct our sense of ethical justice and righteousness and in doing so, fulfill the human basic motive of needing to feel good about ourselves. Similar to the Edison Chen sex scandal two years back, while sexual promiscuity is something I personally do not agree with, I could not help but note how misguided the public voice can be. Sure the protagonist has his responsibility to uphold his personal image as a public figure and all (when ironically he is known for being a "bad boy"), but should the focus not be on the criminal act of leaking out those scandalous pictures and infringing personal rights? The dangers of being in a concordant group is exemplified in deindividuation, when normal constraints on behaviour in people start to loosen when their identities are hidden in a group, leading to an increase in impulsive and deviant behaviors. In short, people get lost in the crowd and the power of the group reduces accountability for individual action. Hence there might be a possibility that people in a group will get carried away by the lambasting and flaming, while forgiveness and tolerance are greatly compromised.

Apologising probably forces the man in the picture to eat humble pie, but at the end of the day sorry just isn't enough, neither is a dosage of humility, for an inconsolable audience who most probably started out wanting to watch the target burn at the stakes, without much room for second chances.

Envoy of the Stars @ 11:26 PM
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